2010-01-12, 22:37
[Off Topic Preface]
So I recently replaced my trusty xbox running xbmc with a Revo1600 since I have a new 54" plasma 1080p TV I decided it was time to pick something that could provide it with an adequate feed.
[/Off Topic Preface]
My question (actually looking for more of an opinionated input): What flavor of xbmc should I go with since I am also looking to be able to use it has a torrent box, Hulu Desktop, Possible BD and netflix and easily access shared folders/drives from other windows computers? The way I see it I have a few options. (I also have a stand alone BD player with netflix so that isn't has important).
1. Windows - this will allow me to easily run my torrent program and share my drives/folders on the Revo, but I lose HW accel for the GPU under windows so to be able to take advantage of that I would need the Broadcom Crystal HD (more hardware expense). But I would have easy use of netflix, BD player and Hulu
2. XBMC Live - Allows hardware acceleration, but no possibility of netflix or BD playing and harder to intigrate hulu and torrents.
3. Linux - Same as above apart from it may be easier to integrate those things
4. Abandon XBMC and use W7MC, this is currently what I am using and it works great for my other needs (torrent, file sharing, BD, netflix) and allows me to easily Remote Desktop in to it too. Problem is that I find XBMC to be a far superior media player/center.
So I am leaning towards option 3 (trust me I have been back and forth and have already installed all 4 options and swapped back and forth). My only concern is the ability to remote desktop in to linux from a windows machine and then launching and using a USB IR remote especially to launch Hulu Desktop if it can't be intigrated into XBMC (or at least launched from).
Anyway maybe everyone could offer some input and the way they went about it with similar hardware.
So I recently replaced my trusty xbox running xbmc with a Revo1600 since I have a new 54" plasma 1080p TV I decided it was time to pick something that could provide it with an adequate feed.
[/Off Topic Preface]
My question (actually looking for more of an opinionated input): What flavor of xbmc should I go with since I am also looking to be able to use it has a torrent box, Hulu Desktop, Possible BD and netflix and easily access shared folders/drives from other windows computers? The way I see it I have a few options. (I also have a stand alone BD player with netflix so that isn't has important).
1. Windows - this will allow me to easily run my torrent program and share my drives/folders on the Revo, but I lose HW accel for the GPU under windows so to be able to take advantage of that I would need the Broadcom Crystal HD (more hardware expense). But I would have easy use of netflix, BD player and Hulu
2. XBMC Live - Allows hardware acceleration, but no possibility of netflix or BD playing and harder to intigrate hulu and torrents.
3. Linux - Same as above apart from it may be easier to integrate those things
4. Abandon XBMC and use W7MC, this is currently what I am using and it works great for my other needs (torrent, file sharing, BD, netflix) and allows me to easily Remote Desktop in to it too. Problem is that I find XBMC to be a far superior media player/center.
So I am leaning towards option 3 (trust me I have been back and forth and have already installed all 4 options and swapped back and forth). My only concern is the ability to remote desktop in to linux from a windows machine and then launching and using a USB IR remote especially to launch Hulu Desktop if it can't be intigrated into XBMC (or at least launched from).
Anyway maybe everyone could offer some input and the way they went about it with similar hardware.